Best Frienemies

Fringe Fever, Culture Blues

• Sharam Namdarian + Joel Temperly

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We pull apart Melbourne Fringe with equal parts affection and frustration while admitting we’re still a bit wobbly from the last episode. Culture feels splintered, audiences feel cautious, and we ask whether Fringe should be stranger while stand‑up finds its own lane.

• Melbourne Fringe as identity crisis point
• hypnosis shows, improv energy, and audience buy‑in
• culture reset after lockdowns and a lost zeitgeist
• competing with the past and novelty fatigue
• Warhammer ResinGate as a metaphor for diminishing returns
• MC choices, safety cues, and setting the room’s world
• stand‑up vs clown, music and theatre at Fringe
• letting Fringe be Fringe with clearer expectations
• honesty about fear, therapy energy, and stagecraft
• outdoor recording, nostalgia riffs, ads and video stores

Subscribe, tell a friend, and drop a comment: is Fringe in Melbourne better without stand‑up or stronger with it?


CHAPTERS:

00:00 Cold Open, Hiatus Jitters
02:20 Fringe Festival Becomes The Topic
06:00 Words, Rubbish, Collingwood Rant
10:30 Hypnosis At Fringe And Improv Bias
13:45 Melbourne’s Fringe vs Comedy Identity
17:00 Culture Reset And Lost Zeitgeist
23:00 Competing With The Past, Tech Plateau
27:30 Warhammer ResinGate And Nostalgia Bits
31:40 Security Questions, Names, And Costs
36:40 What Audiences Want: Laughter vs Mission
41:30 MC Energy, Safety Cues, And Agency
46:00 Meta: Podcast, Park, And Validation

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SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to Best Frenemies.

SPEAKER_00:

In this episode of Best Frenemies, we talk about our thoughts on Fringe Festival and also the cultural And we and we talk about how we're still sort of recovering from the last episode and you might sort of see how we're kind of still recovering from that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Just bear with us.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh this is Best Frenemies.

SPEAKER_00:

How have you been watching? Okay, we're live. Welcome to the O'Reilly Factor. This is the no spin zone. Today we're going to be talking about collective bargaining agreements with Employment Minister Dan Tian.

SPEAKER_03:

Dan Hello, I'm Dan Tian. I don't know any of the words you just said, uh, but I don't care because I'm agnostic to reality.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, uh, we're back after uh hiatus. The last episode was uh featured our dear friend of the pod, uh Mark Oshka, and I think I think he uh did so well that we just had to take a little hiatus, yeah. Take a sabbat, a little sabbat, a little sabbatch.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I had to be like, is this something we wanna do? You know what I mean? Is this the best frenemies?

SPEAKER_00:

Are we gonna get demonetized for me using uh Hebrew words in the first 10 seconds? Sabbatical. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that a Hebrew word?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, no, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00:

Where did you think sabbatical was from?

SPEAKER_03:

I where do you think the word that is from?

SPEAKER_00:

Well it's sabbatical means sabbatical does mean like taking time off from work, which I'd associate more with like the Greeks or something, so.

SPEAKER_03:

Because the Greeks are known for the time off? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh no.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where words are.

SPEAKER_00:

Southern Italy. Like ask our past guest camuratore, you know, like in southern Italy. Yeah, okay. Uh the bus uh no come today. Uh the bus comes uh next week. Uh or the bus, the bus you want, did it says on this it says on the schedule in uh 20 minutes. No, it did it left 20 minutes ago, you idiot. What you doing? It's related to the word sabbatical. Yeah, I'm just Mark Oshka.

SPEAKER_03:

Hello Mark, how you doing?

SPEAKER_00:

Just fun where words come from. Um we're currently recording in a park in Collingwood. Yep, and uh I can't wait for Collingwood to get bought by uh Chinese investors and have every building here knocked to the ground and turned into cold grey 20-story apartment buildings that are not filled and are used to launder money for the Chinese Communist Party uh because it would look better, it would look way better than what it is right now.

SPEAKER_03:

He was so excited for it that he was like, I'm gonna say this on the pod. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh I've said it, it needed to be said.

SPEAKER_03:

Well I'm glad you said it. Do you feel happy and proud of yourself?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. You also were complaining about rubbish.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, that kind of feeds into what I was talking about about this uh um this this uh arse end of the world we're currently recording. Because there's a bit of rubbish around, yeah. There's a lot of rubbish, a little bit of rubbish right next to me, if you ask uh me.

SPEAKER_03:

And then you were like, I relate to my dad, and I was like, uh-uh, I relate to adults in general now.

SPEAKER_00:

We started recording.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we have, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, uh welcome to the show, guys.

SPEAKER_03:

This is the best friend of me's podcast with me, Sharon and Darion, and and uh and I'm uh I'm uh Liz Hayes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Former 60 Minutes journalist. Okay, hi Liz.

SPEAKER_03:

What's it like having once what happened after you left 60 Minutes?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh I um really got into uh uh hypnotherapy.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. What to deal with your own issues or to hypnotise other people?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm not an improv comic, I regret all this. It is the fringe. You know what it is? I got hypnotised during the fringe.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so that's actually Did you get hypnotised during the fringe? People said I looked like I was just playing along.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And I don't know if I was or not. And I think that's hypnotism.

SPEAKER_00:

Look, I I think I find I think after however long we've been recording for five hours, now it feels like I feel like we've finally latched onto a topic of today, which is that the fringe festival is on. Do we like the fringe festival? I've just I've just caught that's why I'm doing all this improv y, this is why the start's been so weird because it's I'm going, I'm pivoting to alt improv comedy. It's important. Yes, and there are no wrong answers and uh in improv. I disagree. And I've learned that because I have just caught fringe fever.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you do any fringe shows?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh were you in lineups? Yeah, I did uh um uh a Balenko Laloa and Andrew Moore, friend of the pod. Yeah. I did their um I did their show called Freaky Willie.

SPEAKER_03:

Tiny Wheelie, so I went to I was gonna go support. That's how good I of a friend I am. I wasn't even gonna perform, I was just gonna go watch, and then they said don't come.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Because I don't I think they had like one person or something. Yeah, here.

SPEAKER_00:

Give it to me. Uh I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_03:

No, give them to me. Yes, and me. It's fringe. It's fringe. Yes, and yes, and hey, I'm Joel. I'm sad and mad. Uh I know sports, but also I know a little bit about a lot of things. I do trivia, I hate talking about it. No, I ha I don't know if I like it or hate it. Uh and my girlfriend gives me the silent treatment all the time, and yes, and I am afraid to approach my feelings and just say that my behavior is fine and you are safe to love me. The um that's I'm I'm safe to be loved. My name is Joel.

SPEAKER_00:

Um this the only reason I caught most of that is because you were pretending to be me. Yeah, I just uh um no, but the the the the silent treatment thing that's part of her culture. She's Russian. Yeah, yeah. So when your your girlfriend or partner or a bet what do you call what do you refer to her as?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh my partner.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Um there isn't really a better way of like, you know, I'm to be vague. I mock to be vague. I mock people who refer to them as partners. Yeah. But then I'm like, when you say girlfriend or boyfriend, it sounds a bit weird too. Yeah. So I just don't really, we haven't really landed on a better way.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, people ask me if I ever get will get married, and I say um for my whole life I wanted to have a girlfriend. So I'm like, why you rush me, bro? Like that's my my thing. What do you think of Fringe?

SPEAKER_00:

What do you think of Fringe? Um the TV show? No, the festival. Starring Joshua Jackson.

SPEAKER_03:

Let's make sure we can't. I was we can start again. Yeah, no, we no, no, this is it. This is it, this is the whole thing. Yeah. Believe in yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, Fringe, I think it's uh it's a bit odd we have a we're you know, most other cities have a a comedy festival or a fringe festival that also doubles as a comedy festival. But Melbourne for some reason has a comedy festival and then also a fringe festival. I don't really get it. I don't really know how that's evolved into that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, look, okay. So here's my logic on the thing. I didn't see much advertising for the fringe outside of comedian. Did you see that?

SPEAKER_00:

No, it seems like it's just invite your relatives.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Do okay. I'm I don't look, don't look, don't look like that. I think what we're going through.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no. Oh, I thought that was urination. The sound, apparently the sound of plastic getting scrunched is very similar to urination.

SPEAKER_03:

Um I think we're going through a cultural reset right now. I think we're still dealing with the ramifications of COVID and the lockdowns. Oh, yeah. And I think that's why like we're just mentally and emotionally stifled. Like we don't know how to participate in out external culture. And with decentralized entertainment, uh, like we're not part of the same zeitgeist anymore. We're not watching the same TV shows, sort of. Like it's barely Netflix. Like we're we're more and more isolated in our own entertainment houses.

SPEAKER_00:

There's no zeitgeist, I like it. Yeah, there's no zeitgeist. I don't like it, but I I you like the concept, you like the word zeitgeist. I do, I do get a kick out of not knowing what the hell anyone's talking to me about.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I don't know anything. You open this podcast with like a hundred things that I knew 30 like 10% off.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And that's more me than you, to be honest. That's more me just being insane, but I think there's genuinely like like someone will just go on about some cult like talk about something like this to them is a cultural phenom phenom phenome.

SPEAKER_03:

Phenomenon.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Pheromone. Cultural phenomenon. Cultural um yeah, and and and and but I'll be like, I have no idea what that is. I don't even know. I wouldn't know how to access that. Uh yeah, I don't I don't know, man. It's it's um but but the the Fringe Festival seems to me like you just you're you know, you just have do three shows and just make sure, just invite every friend or family member you can to come and you don't make any money. And uh yeah, I don't really get the point. Um it's but uh but I've got to confuse this I don't wanna see I I'm I have a s we all have our own likes and dislikes and I don't really like improv comedy and I don't really like spoke, you know, that weird alt shit. Yeah. I find it a bit I don't that all that funny for the sake of being funny is a bit, I think, being abused a little bit.

SPEAKER_03:

It's when it's what do you mean by funny for the sake of funny? Isn't that what stand-up comedy is?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no, alt comedy, the whole like getting up there and being like, you know, anti-comedy.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you know like you know what we call comedy now was alt comedy in like the 60s and stuff? Everyone used to just copy each other's jokes and then people started talking about their life and they were all uh v va vaudeville.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, vaudeville, yeah. But they were all sort of like, hey, did you hear the one about the Did you hear the one about the the dog and the and the man in the beanie and the guy in the background in front of the mural? That's exactly it would have been told by another comedian and it wouldn't have been And that was the same with music back then too, right? They just a lot of covers.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh well, yeah, a little bit, but covers still exist and are probably okay. No, they're they are okay in music. But a band you can't do cover just.

SPEAKER_00:

But but but no, of course not. But like just music back then, like it wasn't weird to just if you did a song, it wouldn't be weird for me to just do another recording of that song.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. Whereas now it would be like As long as it's different, like your version of it, like an acoustic or style, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00:

But now if I did a cover, it would be like, and I just a lot of people could make a well like do an album of oh yeah, those are Joel's just do it, those are all Sharam Namdarian songs. Joel's just doing Sharam Namdarian for his first album. I could do that. Is all his activity behind us getting picked up on the microphone, or is he arc? It's just you. Sorry, folks at home. Sorry, Sharam-in-law.

SPEAKER_03:

Who doesn't even know um they probably can't. I don't even know what the guy's got to do.

SPEAKER_00:

There's a fella behind us, and it's interesting. Yeah, um, but I mean it's a public park and we decided to do this here, which is insane. So it's on us, really. It's almost as insane as whatever I was saying in the first five minutes, which I really hope you cut.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, no, no, I'll just stroke. We'll see what happens. I referenced it later on. So it's a bit more contextual.

SPEAKER_00:

That was like a test for the audience to like how if you got through that, then true believer.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I think it's I think so. Here's my theory on culture right now. I think we're in a culture of not mass-produced, like everything's as consumable as it can be, and it actually has less meaning, I would say, as a result. So we actually need to make it hard for the viewer to participate because they need to actually take a role. You know what I mean? We want to push away the people we don't want. So we want people who want this, whatever this is right now, yeah, it's for them.

SPEAKER_00:

I was just thinking interestingly about the culture is like there's a lot of can you're competing with the past as well now, because yeah, instead of listening to this or watching like last night I watched Conclave.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, what year is that? Last year. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

But that was like a big thing middle of maybe early mid last year.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And I watched it for the first time last night, and I'm like, oh wow, or like you know, I'm just whatever, you know, uh what it doesn't matter what I felt about the film, but I watched it and like that's like uh maybe 18 months ago was like the thing. Yeah, that was like the memes and the it was of the zeitgeist. So now instead of watching whatever's of the zeitgeist now, whatever that is, like probably in terms of movies like the the new DiCaprio film or the that Emma in terms of films.

SPEAKER_03:

Not even really. Like Tron is out and people are potentially See you saying that, I'm like, what? Yeah, exactly. Like we're all in different universes.

SPEAKER_00:

Is that the one with Julian Anderson?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh it's just the one with Tron. Oh does that answer your question? No, not even a little. Um it's a classic movie. I don't know, where Tron is.

SPEAKER_00:

You mean the one with I don't know who Julian Anderson is. I've seen I'm not don't don't paint me with that brush. I know what Tron is.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, well, yeah, like I I get with what you're saying, because I think culturally we're in a world where now more than ever we actually have all of all most of recorded culture to reference.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, and we've gone.

SPEAKER_03:

Like we're not really make something new. Do it now.

SPEAKER_00:

We've also entered a weird place where like even though you watch something from that was recorded say 20 years ago, well, we that's 2005. So a lot of old stuff that might have put you off watching it because it's a bit grainy or a bit shit, now we're entering this era where it's like even stuff from like 20, 25 years ago still looks alright. Yeah. I find that with like sports highlights, like you, you know, I'm a sucker for like old Formula One highlights. Oh, I can't. If you go back and watch like highlights from the 2003 because you're like cargo zoom and you're like fuck what?

SPEAKER_03:

Or is it Formula One, right? You're just watching, I don't know, I don't know cars, like what is it excites you about the old Formula One highlights?

SPEAKER_00:

Like anyone who's into anything, you just watch old, you know, you're into fucking, you know, gaming. You're like, I don't know, I don't know, man. That's always a weird, that was a weird tangent. I was on a roll there and you read it.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, keep going, keep going.

SPEAKER_00:

Nothing is yes and crap. Is it over? I don't know, but basically I'm saying that you the the really interesting point I was trying to make before I was rudely interrupted was that you watch something from 2003, you're like, ah, I mean you can tell it's 2003, but it still looks good. So I don't know, maybe I'm less inclined to be like, oh, this looks shit. You actually I think that the further we head into the future, the more we're the more and more we're gonna compete with things from the past, not just because there are there's more past, yeah, but just because the past isn't as shit. Yeah. Like compare it, like say someone in the 50s is looking back on something from the 30s, they're probably like they're looking at a painting.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and they've only got that painting.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And it's like, oh, we got a new painting in on the boat.

SPEAKER_00:

30 people died. 2025. I'm looking back 20 years, and I'm basically it's all on YouTube. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's all on YouTube. You have accessible, it's all piratable within 30 seconds. No, you do have a point. Well, here's my other thing as well. Like, we used to get excited by technological advances, like, oh, these new graphics are out. Oh, we can make photorealistic movies. Look at this stuff. Yeah, and like I think Warhammer is a good example where they've gone through a generational thing of they used to be the really old Warhammer models that I'm holding it the wrong way. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00:

It'll it'll capture your thing. Everyone's gonna be commenting about that.

SPEAKER_03:

They're like, oh no, it's backwards, where? So Warhammer, right? They had the old models that were made in uh metal, and then they moved them to they were hand sculpted. When they moved to 3D sculpting, that became there became this higher fidelity, and they got to the highest fidelity they could. There's no like they can't add more detail without it being impossible to paint or whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll never forget the day. I'll never forget where I was. That was my 9-11 when they changed from uh metal to 3D.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That was that was like Charlie Kirk getting shot. They call it resin gate in the Warhammer community. ResinGate.

SPEAKER_03:

By the way, that was the original premise of this episode. Okay, let's talk about how much.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I know you were dying to pivot when you started trying to shoehorn Warhammering up the stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and you're like, so this episode is about fringe and how apathetic I am. No, that's what you said.

SPEAKER_00:

I hasn't done it. They changed to resin. I remember the headlines. They were like, for what resin? I remember on that Herald Sun. They were like, What what is the re what is the resin for this? And it's like, what is this about? It's like Warhammer uh manufacturers changed from metal to resin. I'm like, and I threw down my newspaper and sma threw the coffee against the wall and had to apologize to my family. I'm sorry I get angry, it's just that have you seen the news? They've changed the Warhammer from steel to resin. I mean fuck.

SPEAKER_03:

I uh I see what pewter did there. Uh because the actual metal was pewter.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Just so you know. So that's fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Warhammer, barely newer. Yeah. Uh but yeah, go on at what at the start of the Well that's it, that's really it.

SPEAKER_03:

Like, how much more detail can we add?

SPEAKER_00:

So there's no new generational excitement. Make a I know we this podcast is kind of becoming a podcast about a podcast. Yeah. We'll do it. I feel like we're still recovering from Oscar Gate.

SPEAKER_03:

Why are we recovering? Because you know, we can just not mention it and then.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, for us it's been a month. Yeah. But to the listener, it's been maybe half an hour.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because they binge watched the one with Oshka.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, your father-in-law has um traumatised. He's but he's gone, he's watched that Oshka episode, now he's like, well, on to the next one. The boys are prolific. We they've part they've gizzed out another episode. Yeah. And here we are, just still like it'd be weird for the listener, the binge listener, the binge watcher of um whatever the name of this pod is, I forget. But basically, I uh, you know, to just go to next episode and they're like, la la la la. No, we still have to, for the for the benefit of the listener, we still have to sort of sort of just bathe in the in the funk that we created for ourselves last episode.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so there's two things I want to say. First of all, I think you sucked at life coaching me. I'm just gonna review that. Oh yeah. Uh your whole thing on helping me figure out my name. Uh I think you were just trying to find out my porn star name, which, by the way, I had to cut out. Do you know why I had to cut that out? Um because I realize you dox yourself. Like.

SPEAKER_00:

I doxed myself.

SPEAKER_03:

No, me. As in when you do your what's your what's your what's the street you grew up on? What's your first dog? Though do you know what those questions are?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, they're security questions. Security questions.

SPEAKER_03:

I cut out that whole bit because I'm like, what is this? It is so funny, but I'm like, oh, we're dumb. We're so dumb. I should have figured that out on the actual episode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but though for those security questions, do you like I sometimes give because of that fear, I give fake answers, but then the key is to remember. Like, so my mother's made a name. I don't actually put what it is, I go, oh, it's Smith. Yeah. And I but the problem is I don't have to remember or like your first concert. Have you ever had that one first concert?

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, no, no. I don't I don't remember the first concert. Um I remember that I got crushed in it. As then there was a mosh pit or something, and there was a push, and then I got like a whole bunch of people fell on me and bit my leg in a weird way. Um That was my first concert.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, what what was that like Barber Stry Sand or something?

SPEAKER_03:

No, it was a cool underground uh I can't I don't know if it's not really uh a concert though, is it?

SPEAKER_00:

At what point does a gig become a concert?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh when it's music involved.

SPEAKER_00:

So like but like a bigger room. So we're across from uh what what is that? There's like a there's clearly a music venue.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, dust record launch party. Don't they know the culture's dead? What does everyone make?

SPEAKER_00:

Sound merch, shout out. Sound merch on the corner of Peel Street and who gives a shit street.

SPEAKER_03:

Um uh Hey Sound Merch, sponsor us.

SPEAKER_00:

Sorry, I'm using the colonial names. Peel was probably the name of like the governor in the 1880s.

SPEAKER_03:

Anyway, keep talking. Um Yes, and you're gonna be. Sorry, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

No, we are on the lands of the um the Coolin nation. So, okay, keep talking, keep talking, we can do this. Well, oh yeah, I'm just saying, so like you go to that, are you going to a gig or a concert?

SPEAKER_03:

I think I'm going to a concert. A launch party. So I I feel like what they're doing is they're connecting with each other, they're saying, hey, we launched a song.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you've missed the point. But basically, if I go to as like a some my mates are in a band and it like just in some garage and there's like 20 people or like the you know, the gem in co in Collingwood, the gem, um, the gem bar on Wellington Street, like that's very small venue, but they have you wouldn't say it's a concert.

SPEAKER_03:

Like, is there if there's a band playing? I think it needs that a concert.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because it's real small. But you just said if it's music Well, I know that's what I was I think that's a good clarification. I think it could be a tiny I think it should count as a concert if it's a real fucking smaller.

SPEAKER_00:

If I say um I you know, you say you're uh you know you s swiped her out and you met someone's I'm gonna take you to a concert. Yeah, they think you they they think they're dating Frasier, you know, um as in the show. They're like, oh, I better br dress up, we're gonna see Annie at Regent Theatre, and they take you to Dirty Secrets to see like some Underground Grunge Band. Some underground grunge band. Yeah. You s you said that like you're a like a Labour politician.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I'm saying that because I met an underground grunge band person who was scouting out the venue for their for their concert.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And I was shocked because I was shocked that bands existed. I feel like you agree that it wouldn't be a concert and you're just disagreeing for the sake of the algorithm.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh why? Because disagreement gets beautiful.

SPEAKER_00:

You're hunting for the thumbnail. Choke me down for the thumbnail. You're hunting for the thumbnail. The thumbnail. And like the oh, okay. Jesus.

SPEAKER_03:

And the title is Fringe Festival. Yeah, the title is How Joel Came for the First Time.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I'm kidding. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um anyway, we did it. We came up with the thumbnail.

SPEAKER_00:

I hate that's the that's the I've got that that's got into my um vernacular recently, that I'm joking. I hate it.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm joking, I'm joking.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't say like that. I just go like, yeah, I say something that's clearly a joke, but I go, ah, I'm joking. I hate it.

SPEAKER_03:

Like because people don't understand that you're joking?

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's sort of like a um a a nervous tick almost. It's like I say something that's clearly a joke, and if they don't, and it more to the point, if they didn't get it was a joke, yeah, I'd be like, fuck you, then come on, I'm joking, but I still go, ah, it's joking. That's interesting. I think it's bad for me because it shows a lack of confidence. Yeah, and it's patronizing to other people because they're like, yeah, I know you're joking, fuck you.

SPEAKER_03:

So can I yes and that? Okay, so I have a working theory with comedy, is that the thing you do to make a joke work is the thing that the joke was missing. So I don't I think you're actually very smart and intelligent to say that you're joking. It implies that in those everyday conversations, people you recognize people don't understand that it's a joke, so it needs to be more obvious. So that's what you're actually doing. You're actually trying to say, Oh, I need to make this more obvious. Like I saw I one of my favorite pastimes is commenting like the dumbest jokes just to piss people off on Instagram. So there was one, it was a chart about immigration in Canada, and it went, it was like and it was like the latest was like 24 million times. I comment, I'm sorry guys, I've bit I've uh immigrated and been deported from uh Canada 24 million times this year. Sorry, it's my bad. Okay. It's really obvious because it's so absurd. And I think that's my way of saying, I'm joking, guys. I'm joking, it's just a joke. Like, I don't think you're wrong to point out. I think you're very smart and capable, and you should love yourself more.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh-huh. Oh, is that it? Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Um we're the best frenemies. Uh subscribe.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I I I'm just disappointed you're making light of a serious issue like uh immigration. Anyway, um What are your thoughts? I think it's uh great. More immigrants in the country, uh, more people paying tax can lower the tax rate.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm real pro-immigration.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that oh I was expecting I was expecting some. That's not that is actually responsible.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the uh right wing argument for I'm not a right wing, I'm just saying that's the right wing argument for immigration.

SPEAKER_03:

That's what like that's the pro that's the right wing pro-immigration argument.

SPEAKER_00:

More people in the country, more taxpayers, lower tax.

SPEAKER_03:

I have not heard that before.

SPEAKER_00:

But they don't lower the tax. They, you know, it's like uh remember the do you remember the Alco Pop tax?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like the late 2000s, Kevin Rudd. They like they said, oh okay, we're gonna um tax, you know, Alco Pops, mixed drinks, uh, and then but then I think in the budget the revenue forecast was like higher. As in like long story short, they were like, oh, we are st we forecast that this will make this tax will make no difference other than give us more money. So it's like that. It's like that's actually yeah, that makes sense. So when we get more people in the tax rate will go down.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like that doesn't they but the forecast does not match the actual.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they're like, ah hey, yeah, like look at that, immigration's going up. So I guess you'll lower the tax rate now. No, of course not. We just we we just want more money.

SPEAKER_03:

Because they get more money, like why would they be incentivized to drop it? Not unless the economy then s suffers and fails in some way.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Like everything's like I went out yesterday and I did a normal day. Like, as in I bought some like a clothes.

SPEAKER_00:

What's the normal day in the life of Sharum?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, as in like a normal day like five years ago. So I had lunch with my family, because it was my sister's birthday. Uh, went to shops and I bought like a thing.

SPEAKER_00:

I went to a pharmacy, bought another thing, and then I've just gave away another security question, your sister's birthday.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, we don't know what day it is. Don't mention the day. Okay, fair. No, sorry. Also, I've never had a security question that I've done.

SPEAKER_00:

He doesn't even have a sister.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, jokes on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Specifically you. Good one. We mean you. We really mean you. We do mean not the royal you. Yeah, no, we're talking to you. I'm so if they if they really need um if the young blokes and one thing by um blokes and um if you really need um. Yeah, man, 100%.

SPEAKER_03:

Um it was very important.

SPEAKER_00:

It sounds like this. I wish we both knew the second language. Because we could speak, then we could speak that in front of the.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah, but the whole day was expensive. Can you put a caption up?

SPEAKER_00:

You can put a caption up as to what just happened.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not the Oshka podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

But I need to then ex I now need to explain what with what just happened.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm leaving it all in.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you understand that?

SPEAKER_03:

Do you understand that my life is too easy to edit? I can text you. You want to edit?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I can text you the caption.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay. Just text me the caption and I'll put it in there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And I'll do a tiny bit of editing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I'll do one editing. One editing is greater than zero editing.

SPEAKER_00:

Please, Chinese Communist Party, get some of your developers into Collingwood, get them to buy it all up, and let's let's fix this place. Let's let's fix Collingwood. Um You're not gonna edit it?

SPEAKER_01:

No, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Except Dirty Secrets. Leave that. No, no, no, leave that. But they're at the rest, like, you know, especially um what are some of the comedy shows I don't like?

SPEAKER_03:

You don't like most of the Grub?

SPEAKER_00:

Get rid of Grub, Grouse House, I think it's called. Um, what's the other one?

SPEAKER_03:

Why do you not like gigs?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, which ones?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. You just I like them all. Put me on. See? I'm pro me.

SPEAKER_00:

Pro gigs, put me on, I'm pro. No, I mean I I don't like the ones that perfor you know try to do something that isn't uh that isn't comedy, you know. Raw comedy, like well, I'll just I thought the whole point was was supposed to be uh having a laugh and I having a laugh. And I find most audiences actually want to have a laugh.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's why they're there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but then I th feel like um the comedian, the people who run these gigs are so afraid. Everyone's afraid.

SPEAKER_03:

Dude, everyone's afraid. Everyone's scared and everyone's afraid, everyone's scared.

SPEAKER_00:

No one's willing to uh Yeah, they're all just scared one person's gonna talk to the manager and be like um Yeah, then you start another gig. Yeah, sure. But okay, well if that's the case, then what are we all worried about? Start another gig.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's hard, I guess. That's the whole thing. Like it is hard to start.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I just don't like when some some places are stuck in 2017 and think they're on some sort of it's not just about comedy, it's about some sort of mission. Like, no, we're trying to we're not just trying to make people we're trying to make people laugh, but we're also trying to make people learn as well. Yeah, I relate to that. And it's like, what are you talking about? Like everyone just everyone's so confused. And and the audience is scared, but then when when people get up on stage and go, oh hey guys, everything's gonna be alright. And then it that makes the audience even more like, oh, is there a chance that it won't I've seen it, I've seen it, I won't I won't name names, I won't name names. Um, but there are I've seen it happen. MCs going like it it's gonna they get up there, the audience is a blank canvas, you can steer this ship anywhere you want, yeah. And it could the MC gets up there and goes like hey guys, don't worry. It's like we we weren't worried until it's we weren't worried until you said don't worry. If you just got up there and fucking went in on it, and you know, like So there's a Friedrich Nietzsche quote that I love. Daddy say his name.

SPEAKER_03:

What how would you say his name?

SPEAKER_00:

I I don't I never knew, I just I mumbled it. I'd be like, how I'd say Nietzsche.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, Nietzsche. Oh maybe it is Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche. Uh in the absence of God, man is left to find meaning in his own existence. So when you are the comedian or the the MC or whoever, you are the god.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So you're telling them this is the world that you live in. And so it's like it's safe, it's safe, guys, it's safe. And like, admittedly, some audiences are do feel unsafe, so they do need to hear that. Like, I think there's merit in everything, but a lot of- There's merit in everything. Yeah, there's merit in everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's my me that's actually the name of my mental as anything cover band. Merit in everything. Okay. Okay, that wasn't worth it.

SPEAKER_01:

Um what were you expecting? A crazy life.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you I thought you were just mocking his. There's a guy coughing behind us and. No, that was me, I just coughed. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, I'm allowed to. Sounded like you were mocking him.

SPEAKER_03:

I was trying to yes and his cough with my own. Sorry, go on.

SPEAKER_00:

You were saying how uh it's good to be woke.

SPEAKER_03:

I think there's merit in everything, but I do think um, yeah, like if you're genuinely saying you're afraid when they're not, or you're safe to laugh when they already felt safe, you're creating a disconnect. Because they go, Well, we knew that, now you're communicating that it's terrible, and I'm primed for to look for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen it happen a couple of times where at EMC I'm like, what are you doing? Why are you scaring the audience? You're making them scared. Not in a like not I don't mean scared like oh you are you scared them like you told a r risque joke and now they're like, oh no, you you made them like you made them sit like this. It's like you made the like I hate it when friends come to watch me do comedy because they're all worried I'm gonna bomb and they maybe I do, but the problem is that mentality made it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You basically so basically you've just turned the entire audience into my friends watching me because it it's the same effect of all sitting there like, uh oh, is he gonna say something bad? Is he gonna say something awful? Is he gonna say something awful? And probably out of context, we are gonna say something kind of awful.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh but not like I don't mean because now everyone's gonna think like, oh what, you you think it's okay to just go up there and say the N word and all this? No, I don't think that.

SPEAKER_03:

But here's what I think. Alright, let's joust on this. One of my grand theories of life is everything's therapy until it's not. So we're not necessarily Therapy is a balloon. Yeah. Therapy is a balloon. Um so the point of the what I mean by that is like like for example, I've got a few jokes that I'm like, oh, this is edgy. I've seen people who are fantastic going, this is edgy when it's not. And until you work that out, you're gonna be communicating subtly, oh, are you safe with this? Like, is this okay? You're actually looking for that data. I don't think it's that's why I'm like this merit and everything, because you've got to sometimes let yourself project onto the audience your insecurities so that way you can go, wow, I was crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm getting a little bit better at going like, alright, but yeah, it's just I don't know. I get it. Like it's hard to have this chat because sometimes people will interpret this as me going like you can't say anything, which is not I don't believe that. I'm just sort of like I I I don't know, I just I can't remember.

SPEAKER_03:

But you gotta be able to transmute it. How do we say you're aware? I don't know. Well this whole premise of this episode was how much Wyoming Charm have, and now it's about fringe ventures.

SPEAKER_00:

What episode number are we up to?

SPEAKER_03:

I'm not counting.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, I whatever I count. Whatever we're in, this isn't this is a 0.5 episode. Yeah. This is like a we're getting back off the canvas episode. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's good to be off the canvas.

SPEAKER_00:

I worry is the was did was We should talk more about the podcast. Was the park a good idea?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, I think it is. Last time it worked fantastic.

SPEAKER_00:

Well that's what I mean. Maybe we just remember the one time it worked and we're like, you know, maybe we secretly were hoping Camura Tore would walk past again.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, maybe that's what you've been hoping. You keep mentioning it. He's a great guy.

SPEAKER_00:

I think he's in Japan.

SPEAKER_03:

I think you want this, you want validation from the audience. Please comment. Tell Joel, is this a good episode?

SPEAKER_00:

I want an audience.

SPEAKER_03:

An audience? You want one audience?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it'd be nice if we had an audience that could validate us.

SPEAKER_03:

We have an audience who's behind us.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. Don't don't make eye contact. Yeah. Um If Collingwood was a person who's behind us. There we go. He probably heard that.

SPEAKER_03:

Can you hear me? Anyway, so Fringe Festival, what I found interesting was when I did the hypnotist show, when you hypnotized the show. What's interesting was that they had an audience. Yeah, because it's so yeah. Because maybe that's fringe. Comedians trying to cram comedy and everything.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's fringe, let it be fringe. Yeah. Just let it be fringe.

SPEAKER_00:

I almost banned comedy from it. I'd be like, no stand-up comedy at fringe.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, not unless it's your favourite improv or whatever else you said is you hate.

SPEAKER_00:

Improv, music, uh clown. Musical comedy. What other types of comedy are there? Um those are the big that's the unholy trinity. That's the axis of evil.

SPEAKER_03:

Clown is your stand-up comedy transmuted into actions.

SPEAKER_00:

Which you really like that. Transmute.

SPEAKER_03:

Transmute means transferred, translated, harnessed. It's uh alchemy.

SPEAKER_00:

Transmute lives matter. Um good job. Um just it's funny. Like, you don't, you know, that would be a good way. Uh mute? No, that would be a good way to like, if you're like a trans person who's been silenced, I've been transmuted.

SPEAKER_03:

Into not speaking.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, just like you know, just like, yeah. Uh.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I get what you're saying. I did a uh I rhymed uh uh was it departed with farted today? I was pretty proud of that.

SPEAKER_00:

Does that account as a rhyme when there's an extra syllable?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because it is it depart and fart. Yeah, that counts.

SPEAKER_00:

Depart and fart. I mean it works.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh what are your thoughts on French? The departed. That sounds like a good sketch. The departed, yeah. It's just it's just it's literally just the departed. Yeah. But they're just every between every line is just pfft. Well, it's like it's like, what are some of the famous lines from that? Like uh, you know, like uh getting married is a good idea. You know, no one thinks you're gay anymore. You know, or like what's another famous line from the departed?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know, I haven't seen it, but I let you I want you to know that our audience member has walked out of it. We are back down to zero.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you know when he says like this isn't reality TV, okay. When I tell you to throw someone in the marsh, you throw them in the marsh. Yeah. Yeah, it's the departed. So that you can have that SNL.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. The defarded.

SPEAKER_00:

The defarded. Just get Joel in it for one, though. And it and it's the music, you know, the you know the uh the fucking what's the the the what's this what's the band? I don't know. I don't know. Um I don't know. The dropkick Murphy's back. Shut up, the dropkick. The dropkick Murphy's. The dropkick. You didn't even try and help me there. The dropkick Murphy's and the song is Fringes Over instead of a violinist, I can't I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01:

It's what's do this on stage today. But uh The Departed, but it's the departed. Departed. And that's your that's your set.

SPEAKER_00:

But I need someone You can have that if you want.

SPEAKER_01:

You know it. I don't know departed enough to do it.

SPEAKER_00:

You know the music though, the d-d-d- But it's farts.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the clip for the show, by the way. Just that. You're not even gonna clip it?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I don't know. I don't know if any of this is clippable.

SPEAKER_00:

Look, this has been a world where we needed this is the recession we had to have this episode.

SPEAKER_03:

This is the I think this is a cultural reset for this episode.

SPEAKER_00:

We needed a reset. We had a this has been a rough episode. Let's be honest. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's been fun.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's been above average. It's been interesting, but I'd say the first 10 minutes I was just like, I try to I I got the I got the fringe bug. I caught the fringe fest bug and I was trying to improv. I don't know what I was doing, folks. But I've been I w I did a gig, I I I've I've done a couple of fringe gigs and I just the fringe bug has caught me. I and I just want to clown it up, man.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, good. Which you're trying to transmute your words into action.

SPEAKER_00:

Look at this, watch this, watch this.

SPEAKER_03:

You're miming it. That's a mime! That's not a clown.

SPEAKER_00:

But like, dude, I'm just I can't help it. I can't help myself. It just comes like it comes out of me. Just the fringe festival is I am the fringe.

SPEAKER_03:

You are fringe.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the TV show.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Uh the word defaded or whatever comes from I was singing a song about how my girlfriend was kicking me out of the house. Is she? No, despite the fact I was leaving to come do this podcast, but I was singing a song because I thought it was really funny.

SPEAKER_00:

Imagine if I just was so confident that she's kicking me out of the house, I was like, Oh, about time, actually. I was gonna say fuck that bitch, and you're like, oh no, I was just kidding around, dude.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, yeah, but she ha she doesn't like it. And that to me, there's humour. She doesn't like it when I'm going, you're kicking me out, despite the fact that I'm leaving to do a thing.

SPEAKER_00:

You can't find me, I quit.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And she's like What is she sorry gone? Yeah, what does she think of what? This podcast? Yeah. The fact that you were in the middle of a lovely Sunday afternoon, we you chose this over her.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so let it be known.

SPEAKER_00:

But the record show.

SPEAKER_03:

We have spoken uh probably 50 to 40% in this episode about the episode. That's I do think we need to pump those numbers up. We need to do a whole meta episode where we just discuss the podcast itself. Uh what she thinks is she's happy with her alone time. She wants me to get out. She's actually really happy. Please leave. I need to be by myself.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh we I am very loud, I'm very demanding sometimes. Uh, and I can be very annoying, you know this. And also, we live in a tiny place. So she needs the space. Sometimes I like it when she's out. I'm like, thank god, now I can just lie in bed on my phone for hours without judgment. It's beautiful. It's introversion time. I'm an extreme introvert. Did you know that? I recharge in silence.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I'm just watching everyone who walks past just stare at us. Like, yeah, there's a lot of people like the fuck is wrong with you two.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. It's a what do you call it? A cultural cultural depression, right? I don't want everyone just walking.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think this this setup in the park, this is as charming as it may have been like three years ago, like put just immediately post-pandemic, people like, oh, what's good? What's this about? Or during the pandemic, it'd be like, Oh, they're doing something in the park. Now it's just back to being kind of like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_03:

So there's like a couple podcasting studios near me that we could hire. You can take a photo.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we're really famous.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we're we're so famous. We're so famous, we're in the park.

SPEAKER_00:

He's getting emotional now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03:

I like the outside podcast. I like the raw nature. I think that's like very of the times. You know, it's like like it's not like I don't I think it's very American to be big budget, high, high production value. I think it's very Australian to be like, we're we're just we're making do with what we've got. We're not afraid to try, but at the very core of it, we provide quality. And I think that's what we like. I think we like quality at the core of things. Things don't have to be fancy as long as they're single origin, artisanary. Uh it's a sandwich from it's good, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's what we feel like an Australian flag needs to drop behind you while you're making that artisanal bread. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

We love artisanal bread, and that's what this podcast is. It's the best friend of me's podcast. It's the artisanal bread of comedy podcasts. I bet you haven't laughed the entire time.

SPEAKER_00:

Were you a oh maybe it defarded? Defarded was good. Were you uh were you a video easy guy or a blockbuster guy?

SPEAKER_03:

I liked blockbuster video mostly because I liked the shape of the logo. What were you?

SPEAKER_00:

I was a video easy guy.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00:

Because in East Ring Ring Ring somewhere. Well, that's who cares. East Ringwood, around where I lived, uh uh there was a a pr uh uh a sort of a private one, a mum and mum and pop kind of thing, mum and dad store. You know we don't have that term here. Like salt trader, whatever. Called uh Video I think people understand. It was called Video 1000, and we used to Mario's Video, I think it was called in East Ringwood.

SPEAKER_03:

Name is familiar.

SPEAKER_00:

And then uh Oh yeah, because you're sort of Yeah, because I lived in that era, yeah. And then um uh it was along the East Ringwood shops near Ringwood High School.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Cool. Great stuff. And then we uh uh then they be Shout out to Mario and then they moved, they became a video easy, so we s loyalty stuck with them.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Shout out to Mario wherever you are right now.

SPEAKER_03:

I um I had Lilydale Market. It was a blockbuster video there.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. Okay. Well my when you say market, you mean like a mall. Yeah, well it became like a regular shopping centre, but it they just call like Lilydale Market. I gotcha. I gotcha. Um Yeah, I mean I liked I remember once renting a video from Mario and it was like um I forget the film, but basically you put it in, and at the very start someone had um rec clearly like they'd used it to record an AFL game. Oh I think and just for like one second, I remember the I remember the play, it was Winston Abraham, former Fremantle footballer, spinning the ball in his hand, and and then it went to black and then it went into the trailers before the movie, and I was like, it's just very quaint, it's something that stays in my memory.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I get that. I love that that stays in your memory, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Like just you put you press play, I don't know what I'd rented, probably some trash kids, you know, movie. Probably a Jonathan Taylor Thomas vehicle from the 90s, like like man of the house, I think is what it's called, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and uh Chevy Chase and Farah Fawcett. I I rented that and that that's like the type of I'm not sure if it was that film, but it that was the sort of the ilk of film that I'm talking about here, and I put it in, press play, and then yeah, for the first one second, it was just an AFL player holding a football looking for his next pass. And I didn't know. I put a defining form memory of the child, and I couldn't tell what the score was because this was the 90s, and they didn't put the score in the corner of the screen like this was simpler times. You had to wait until they showed you the scoreboard when someone kicked the goal. If someone didn't kick a goal for like Well, that's how they got you to stay and watch.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, if someone did yeah, because you yeah, otherwise now we're in a yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Keep talking. No, no, it's just it's fascinating. No, you the gilded age we live in now where they keep the score on during the ads.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You're watching an ad and still in the corner, there's like a watermark with the the AF the score from the game you're watching still there. I mean, you know, we are in good this is we are in good times, people.

SPEAKER_03:

Are we in good times? I thought the whole thing we're talking about, how it was a cultural regression.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm just saying that like you can watch, you're like, ah the ads are on, but I can still see the score.

SPEAKER_03:

Here's beautiful one last thing. I reckon TV ads.

SPEAKER_00:

Is this the last thing? Yeah, because we've got to wrap up TV ads I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_03:

In the good old days, I think they designed the ads. As in like they were like add one, ad two, add three, add four. They designed the sequence to make it interesting and then. Oh, I hate you.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't mean okay, go on, sorry.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's it. I think that's what they did. And you see modern ads on like whatever, like prime, and you're like, this is us.

SPEAKER_00:

This is terrible. I mean, firstly, I thought you meant like the ad the company said, okay, we want this ad to be third. You mean the TV show.

SPEAKER_03:

They had like certain sequences, like it'd probably have like I like There's probably a job.

SPEAKER_00:

Like an ad order guy. I'm I'm an ad order guy. I've I'm vice president of ad ordering.

SPEAKER_03:

And they're like really into it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he just sits there with like he's like like looking at this board, yeah, and someone's about to knock on the door of his, and they're like, No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03:

He's working on it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, don't bother him.

SPEAKER_03:

And he's like, the first ad is an ad about like sandwiches.

SPEAKER_00:

He's trying to work out if the Pizza Hut ad goes before the Toyota ad. But it's important. Yeah. I reckon that's important. Do you remember how the ad for the next the the that you knew the ad sequence was ending when the the sh next the ad for one of the shows on the channel? Yeah, yeah. You'd be like, oh, the ad sequence ending. There were things. Yeah, you'd be like, oh, they're advertising the Sunday movie. So that's how you knew the ad was about the the the commercial break was about to end. That's how you knew to press record again.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, do you know how I know we're definitely in the cultural regression? You know that ad where it's like, I just want milk that tastes like real meat and only 2% fat? Those guys are playing it again on YouTube ads. Oh, we got 2%. Well, you know that one, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I know the world.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh she fat shames him.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, she fat shames him. And then she's gonna be. But it's okay because he's a guy. Yeah, because and it was the it was the times.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you can do that. You can do that to people.

SPEAKER_03:

And they've just changed it. It's like milk that still tastes like real milk. And because they just can't think of maybe anything better.

SPEAKER_00:

Imagine now, like, oh, we're gonna redo it out, but we're gonna make it, you know, progressive and stuff, so it's a woman, it's like it's like a trans lady gonna buy milk and it's like, you know, I don't know, uh, go, go, go, an Israeli a Jewish guy, a Jewish guy, a Jewish proprietor. Just shaming the trans, like only two percent fat. Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and they're like, but it's fine.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know what see, I've got the fringe bug, but I'm not a I'm not a fringe comedian.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. I'm terrible at these these theatre sport games. I can't do them. Like, give me an idea. Um, trans customer, Jewish proprietor.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Uh I'd like to buy a set.

SPEAKER_00:

This is why I don't do the fringe festival, because I I can't do it. I'm just immediately like, um, trans Gaza, Hezbollah, Trump. You're like, Sir, this is a Wendy's. Maybe I am an improper. Yeah, you did it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Um, okay, so let's conclude this episode because we'll wrap up and go to the bombing so hard. What do you think of the fringe festival? I think it needs more effort, more love. I think it's a good concept. I think it just needs more effort, less, more, more fringe stuff. We need to promote. We it just needed I think it just needed to be promoted.

SPEAKER_00:

I think no one knew about it. I think stand-up comedians should just leave it alone and leave it to the clowns, the improv comics, and the uh musical comedians. Let them have their fun. Uh, this isn't for stand-up comedians.

SPEAKER_03:

And I look at it Unless they're doing weird fringe stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, like, you know, for instance, uh uh Joseph Green, right? He's sort of a clowny, he has a clowning background, right? So he might do I'm not saying a stand-up comedian, but if you don't do stand-up, you do you pivot to oh I'm doing clowny stuff this yeah, no, I'm just saying I look at I think we look at fringe festival through a stand-up lens because the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Perth Fringe World or whatever they call it, they are also comedy festivals. Yeah. But in Melbourne, fringe is a completely separate thing that should just be the remit of clowns, improv comics, and and musical comedians.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. And the final question is are we friends or are we enemies? Is that the question I asked?

SPEAKER_00:

I think are we friends or our enemies, then I answer it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so are we friends or are we friends yet or are we still enemies?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh off the record, we are colleagues and uh on the record. Did I say off the record first? On the record, we are sworn enemies.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

unknown:

Cool.

SPEAKER_00:

That wasn't funny. That's the end of the episode. I'm not an improv comic.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Um Happy Fringe. Okay, before we end it, let's start do the introduction part. We're like, welcome to Best Frenemies.

SPEAKER_00:

In this episode of Best Frenemies, we talk about our thoughts on Fringe Festival and also the cultural and we and we talk about how we're still sort of recovering from the last episode, and you might sort of see how we're kind of still recovering from that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Just bear with us.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, this is Best Frenemies.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's a good intro.